


Operant Conditioning

by virdant



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Character Study, Crack Treated Seriously, M/M, Post-Episode: s03e13 The Wrath of the Lamb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-07
Updated: 2018-04-07
Packaged: 2019-04-19 13:37:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14238432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/virdant/pseuds/virdant
Summary: Will would really appreciate it if Hannibal would refrain from murdering the rude for a few weeks while they got settled in Cuba, thanks.or: "i just watched six episodes of this dog rehabilitation show and there is a pattern of patting dogs on the butt to get them to stop being aggressive so where is my will graham rehabilitates cannibalistic serial killers by patting them on the butt fic?"





	Operant Conditioning

**Author's Note:**

> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Three days into their new residence in Mayari, Cuba, Will was walking, pleasantly side-by-side with Hannibal when a man hurried by, shoulder jarring into Will’s side uncomfortably. Will reeled into Hannibal’s steady hands. “Watch where you’re going!” the stranger snarled.

Will rubbed his side, still prone to sundry aches and pains. He blinked at the stranger, rapidly vanishing from view.

“How rude,” Hannibal said, thoughtfully.

Will eyed him. He didn’t need any shared mind palace to see Hannibal flicking through a box of recipes. “No,” Will said.

Hannibal gave Will a look. About five years and a dozen murders ago, it might have appeared as mild and innocuous. But Will had raised a dozen dogs, and he recognized mulish begging when he saw it.

“No,” he said, more firmly.

Hannibal turned away, gaze once again focused on the disappearing stranger’s back.

“We just moved to this town,” Will pleaded, as if that was a good reason. Hannibal ignored him, no doubt halfway through hunting down said stranger in his mind. “It’s only been three days. At least wait a week.”

Hannibal said, “Hm.”

“No, Hannibal,” Will said again. He clicked his tongue in aggravation. Hannibal was still ignoring him, they were blocking the road, and finally he reached out and firmly patted Hannibal on the buttocks.

Hannibal blinked at him.

Attention garnered, Will said, “We are not hunting down the stranger and—” eyeing the steadily milling crowd— “demanding an apology.” He cleared his throat. “Now let’s go. You said you wanted papayas.”

“Of course, Will,” Hannibal replied. They continued down the streets as if nothing had happened.

Will tucked his hands into his pockets.

 

* * *

 

Brian at the bar was boisterous, by some definitions. Boisterous was one way to describe how he lurched onto the table, flung his arm into the air, glass and all, spilling beer across a half-dozen tables and Will’s glasses.

Hannibal wiped the beer off of Will’s glasses with a handkerchief.

“Thanks,” Will said, ignoring how Hannibal had just plucked the glasses off his face. “You didn’t need to.”

“He’s quite rude,” Hannibal said, just as pleasantly, voice low under the cackle of Brian’s laughter.

Will said, “No.”

Hannibal ignored him.

“Hannibal,” he tried again.

Hannibal contemplated Brian, now being urged by the waitstaff to please come down, Brian, before the table breaks again.

Will couldn’t get as good an angle when they were sitting, but it was still remarkably effective. Hannibal’s attention diverted from Brian at the bar and back to Will, with a pat to his rump. Will held up his glass of whiskey, slightly more full than before with beer. “Get me a replacement?” he asked.

“Of course,” Hannibal said, pleasantly.

“And then we should head home,” Will added, before Hannibal could come up with any murderous schemes for tonight.

 

* * *

 

 

Will woke up in the middle of the night, sweating and overheated, the sheets and blankets too neatly arranged around his body.

He squinted skeptically at the bedding, his sleep-fogged brain clicking into gear. Hannibal had woken up in the middle of the night, his internal clock as efficient as ever, and had taken the time to carefully rearrange the blankets, tucking Will into bed before—

Will kicked the blankets off and stalked into the kitchen.

Hannibal, box of recipes in hand, blinked mildly, once, at him.

“Who are you trying to murder now?” Will cut to the chase. “And what did they do to you?”

“Dear Will,” Hannibal began.

“Did they cut in front of you at the farmer’s market? Hannibal, I’ve been there with you, nobody even bothers to form a line—”

Hannibal frowned, minutely, at him. Just a small tug of a cheek muscle.

“—everybody just stands around in an amorphous crowd and pushes and you like it, don’t lie, you like that you’re easily noticeable so you get served first—”

The same muscle in his cheek twitched again.

“—No,” Will concluded, “put the box down.”

Hannibal put the box down.

“And take off that murder condom.”

“Will,” Hannibal said again. He looked down at the clear vinyl over one of his pale linen suits. “It’s hardly a condom.”

Will sighed, angrily, back.

Hannibal crossed the span of the kitchen counters, vinyl rustling. Outside, the moon was bright; the blood splatter would have been black and cavernous when he returned, stripped out of the sheeting and suit, and slipped back under the covers. In the quiet kitchen, the strip of moonlight from the window caught at a crinkle in the plastic, flashing bright into his eyes.

Will waited until Hannibal stood before him to wrap his hands around Hannibal’s hips. The plastic was slippery and crinkled loudly.

“You’re upset,” Hannibal said. He helpfully peeled off a plastic glove before resting the back of his head against Will’s forehead. “And overly warm.”

“You covered me with too many blankets,” Will replied. “It’s not encephalitis. And even if it was, what would you do about it?”

“Will,” Hannibal said, protestation in the narrowing of his eyes.

“Don’t go kill whoever cut in front of you at the farmer’s market,” Will said. He squeezed Hannibal’s hip with a hand. “Take that off and come back to bed.”

Hannibal disagreed, mouth drawn firm.

Will shook his head, and shifted his grip, squeezing Hannibal on the rump. “Bed,” he said, firmly.

Hannibal exhaled. “Bed,” he agreed. “Shall I open the windows to let in a breeze?”

“Just don’t cover me in all of the blankets,” Will said, retreating. “And don’t forget to change.”

 

* * *

 

Hannibal pulled back the covers, and Will’s eyes opened a slit. In the moonlight, his curls were the black of blood and his mouth stretched into violent delight. The scar on his forehead, on his cheek, on his abdomen gleamed, and Hannibal pressed his fingers to each in turn.

“Hannibal,” Will uttered, like a sigh in his sleep.

“Dear Will,” Hannibal murmured, “Did you think I wouldn’t notice?”

Will smiled, sleepily. “But it worked.”

Back in Wolf Trap, Will had nudged members of his pack in the rump when they were unruly, redirecting their focus from sundry forest creatures or the rumble of boat engines alike and back to Will. It had been easy enough to carry that experience to Hannibal.

Hannibal said, “Studies have shown that the placebo effect occurs even if one is aware of it.”

Will said, “Even if you know the tricks. Turns out that some things can go through forts.”

“Did you really think to seduce me out of murder?” His hand paused on the smile etched on Will’s gut.

“Not entirely.” Will covered Hannibal’s hand. “Mostly I just wanted you to stop. The seduction was a convenient addition.”

“You could have said something.”

Will twisted one of their hands together. “When have words ever worked on us? Better to show you the way you showed me.”

Hannibal rested his forehead against the scar on Will’s.

Like water, wearing away the mortar on stone forts, Will reached and with his free hand on Hannibal’s buttocks, pressed them hip-to-hip, chest-to-chest, mind-to-mind.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to tylar who has put up with a lot from me in the past few weeks, including no small amount of dramatics over my writing.
> 
> kudos and comments always appreciated, or [ [reblog on tumblr](https://virdant.tumblr.com/post/172678806651/fic-hannibal-tv) ]
> 
> find me on tumblr/twitter: [ [Tumblr](https://virdant.tumblr.com/) ] [[Twitter](https://www.twitter.com/virdant) ]


End file.
